1968 Roadrunner: 6.1L hemi, 6 speed, & IFS/IRS

[Zoomin]

Are the pics from your needle scaler after the accident?

I feel nauseous for you.

[andrewb70]

The crash looks bad. I'm glad you're OK!

Andrew

[70B5Cuda]

I used the needle scaler on the roadrunner. The survivor charger is unrelated to this thread, but the accident is another reason I haven't gotten much done in the last couple weeks.

[70B5Cuda]

The crash looks bad. I'm glad you're OK!

Andrew

Thanks! Me too! At 55mph I was doing 80 feet per second so a tenth of a second earlier or later would have resulted in me getting T boned in the door or me t boning his half ton truck. Luckily we hit on the corners and the energy was fully absorbed by the initial collision.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Glad to see you are okay and am sorry to hear about your Charger. That's one of my biggest fears as I get my 'Cuda out pretty regularly, and it's not uncommon for me to have my 3 year old and/or 1 year old with me. I need to get off my tail and upgrade my seat belts and quit putting it off.

The needle scaler works well, but as you see, eats up a ton of air. You can also try a knotted wire wheel on an angle grinder. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES [and hearing protection....and a mask] if you use one. It will send wires out a the speed of light, but chews through the rubber pretty well.

[ryeguy2006a]

Wow, sorry to hear about your Charger. So glad that you walked away from the accident. That looks just awful...

[70B5Cuda]

Wow, sorry to hear about your Charger. So glad that you walked away from the accident. That looks just awful...

Yeah-it wasn't fun but it could have been so much worse-I'm just glad none of my kids were with me. And I believe that everything happens for a reason....

[FlyDoc]

its good that you walked away from the accident!
so did the other guy walk away? if so is he still alive?

[70B5Cuda]

Well, The last couple months have been nuts. On Christmas Eve I got T-boned while doing 55mph in my survivor 1969 Dodge Charger. Miraculously, I escaped the car accident with scrapes/bruises. I declined medical attention At the scene of the accident but a few hours later, my lovely wife convinced me to go the emergency room, where I received a chest x ray and a head CT scan. The ER Doc pronounced me healthy and sent me home but two days later I received a phone call. The head of radiology was at home on the day of the crash. Two days later, he was reviewing the work done over the holiday when he came across my chest x-ray. He spotted a bump on my right humerus (the big bone in the upper arm). Several x-rays/MRI's and 14 days later I was told I have bone cancer in my right arm. I'm only 36 and a father of 5 little ones so it hit me hard. The surgeon/oncologist said that I needed to have the top third of my right humerus cut out and replaced with a cadaver bone. It took 3 weeks to find a cadaver bone that had the right size/profile since the head of the humerus needed to fit my existing rotator cuff/shoulder. It took three weeks of taking it easy because the bone was so thin that it was close to breaking. The picture of the x-ray shows how bad it was-the black void is where the cancer had eaten out the bone. As soon as the bone came in, I had surgery. Before the bone could be removed, the surgeon had to cut/unhook and peel back all the muscles that attach to the shoulder (bicep, tricep, deltoid, pectoral, and 4 back muscles) before cutting the cancerous bone out and grafting in the cadaver bone section with a 6" plate and screws. After the graft, all the muscles had to be sown back in place. I spent 5 days in the hospital where the pain was BRUTAL. The first 5 days at home were pretty rough too but things got much better after that. I've been in a sling for 6 weeks now and I've never sat still so much. The surgeon thinks he got all the cancer, but I will be doing body scans every 3 months for the next 5 years. The bone was sent off for pathology and upon inspection, the bone was hairline fractured but the tissue above it tested clean. The surgeon says this bone can take 6-9 months to heal fully. If it's not healed by 9 months I will have to have another bone graft done so if you're a praying man/woman, please pray for healing. I have to take it really easy for the next year which is NOT MY STYLE!!
I'm not sure why this had to happen, but I believe that all things happen for a reason and I'm truly grateful to God have survived the crash and to have a solid chance at beating this cancer. I do know that without this wreck, the cancer would not have been found in time. This type of cancer does not respond to radiation or chemo so it can only be cut out. And when it spreads, it usually goes straight to the lungs....so all in all, I feel fortunate. If you pray, please keep me in your prayers. Enjoy the pictures...
The tumor....





One of my favorite pics from inside the 1969 Dodge Charger...




Feb 2024...I finally made a YouTube video about the wreck and the subsequent cancer diagnoses...all because of the wreck!!!

[brawls43]

Tons of prayers for you man! Crazy how they found it! Prayers for a full recovery!

[FormTA]

It took your charger but it gave more time. Things happen for a reason. Prayers for quick healing and they got it all.

[Jetfixr320]

Wow! Prayers sent! Glad they found it.

[ryeguy2006a]

Wow, that is an incredible story. It's absolutely amazing to me that we live in a time where medically that is possible. Not only for them to diagnose that, but are able to find a bone for you that quickly. I wish you a quick recovery.

[andrewb70]

Wow! Take it easy and heal up!

Andrew

[builttodrive]

Very sad news. Prayers sent!!!

[70B5Cuda]

Thanks for the prayers and encouragement. For the first time in two months, I ventured out to the shop this week (twice!). My right shoulder (I'm right handed) has very limited range and i have to take it easy since the bones haven't grown together yet. The first day, I removed all the windshield trim clips from the window channels. Yesterday, I started the process of stripping the remaining red exterior paint. I only had 2 hours in me. In that time, I stripped most of the top of the right quarter panel. Here's about 30 minutes in...

This is all I got done


The disc on the left is the one I was using. I like them because they are quite effective and yet they don't build up much heat in the sheetmetal. I was using air and a gearless grinder.

[70B5Cuda]

I've been slowly stripping paint from the large open surfaces so that the media blaster won't warp those surfaces.





I also dug out all the putty/sealant that in the gutter rail. That stuff was HARD and difficult to get out!

[70B5Cuda]

After getting t-boned in my 1969 charger in December, I started to really think and worry about side protection. If the other guy had hit me in the door of the charger (instead of the front fender), I would have been in serious trouble. After mulling it over, I decided to send the Roadrunner back over to my buddy's shop in order to install a 6 point cage that will provide me with some side protection. We will also plan for some modern seatbelts with inertial reels. I don't want the car to be annoying to get in and out of, but my wreck has made me look at things from a different perspective. While its there, the lower radiator support will get boxed/reinforced, and plates will be welded in so that it can be provisioned for a Monte Carlo bar.

Without the front fenders, the front wheels look so huge...it looks weird.

[70B5Cuda]

The cage should finish up next week but here are a few early pics








Matt tabbed up some finish panels that I'm really happy with...

[70B5Cuda]